An automobile as a moving body driven by a driving force of a motor is mounted with various electronic devices such as a motor and an inverter. Conventionally, various connector units are used for interconnecting the motor and the inverter.
FIG. 12 is a perspective view of a conventional connector unit. A connector unit 110 shown in FIG. 12 is provided with a first connector 101 and a second connector 102, the first connector 101 having a plurality of rod-shaped male-type terminals 103, a male-type housing 104 to which the plurality of male-type terminals 103 is attached and a contact-preventive housing 105, and the second connector 102 having a plurality of female-type terminals 109 to be connected to the plurality of male-type terminals 103, respectively, and a female-type housing 111 made of synthetic resin. The female-type housing 111 is formed with a plurality of receiving portions 112 arranged to receive the respective female-type terminals 109 and is arranged to fit with the male-type housing 104. In FIG. 12, an arrowed Y direction indicates a longitudinal direction of the male-type terminal 103 and a sliding direction of the contact-preventive housing 105, and an arrowed X direction indicates a direction of alignment of the plurality of male-type terminals 103 and the plurality of receiving portions 112.
For the first connector 101 described above, the contact-preventive housing 105 is attached to an exposed portion of the male-type terminal 103 to prevent a user from getting shocked by contacting the male-type terminal 103 when fitting these connectors 101, 102 together.
There is provided an engagement receiving portion 131 formed at a tip end of the male-type terminal 103 on a side close to the second connector 102 and arranged to protrude from the male-type terminal 103. The contact-preventive housing 105 includes an engagement arm 151 arranged to engage to the engagement receiving portion 131 to prevent the contact-preventive housing 105 from sliding in the direction towards the male-type housing 104 (i.e. the Y direction). The engagement arm 151 includes an arm portion 152 extending along the Y direction and arranged to deform in directions away from and towards the engagement receiving portion 131, and an engagement portion 153 formed on the engagement receiving portion 131 on a side close to the second connector 101 and arranged to project from a tip end of the arm portion 152 in the X direction so as to engage to the engagement receiving portion 131.
The receiving portion 112 of the female-type housing 111 is provided with a disengagement projection 113 arranged to project towards the male-type housing 104 and arranged to disengage the engagement arm 151 from the engagement receiving portion 131. While this disengagement projection 113 is abutted on the engagement arm 151, when the female-type housing 111 (the second connector 102) is moved towards the male-type housing 104 (the first connector 101), the disengagement projection 113 deforms the arm portion 152 of the engagement arm 151 in a direction away from the engagement receiving portion 131, thereby disengaging the engagement portion 153 from the engagement receiving portion 131. After the engagement arm 151 is disengaged from the engagement receiving portion 131, the contact-preventive housing 105 is allowed to slide with respect the male-type terminal 103. Thus, the contact-preventive housing 105 slides towards the male-type housing 104 to allow the male-type terminal 103 entering into the female-type terminal 109, thereby fitting the first connector 101 and the second connector 102 together (for example, refer to Patent Document 1).